This book was a gripping, entertaining read, and totally outside of my normal range of reading genres. I bought it because I enjoy the author's blog aThis book was a gripping, entertaining read, and totally outside of my normal range of reading genres. I bought it because I enjoy the author's blog about writing, and I just wanted to support her. What a great surprise to find a book I am happy to recommend to anyone who wants a fast-paced plot (that's scary without being depressing or overly violent) with well fleshed-out characters.

Online gamers (which I'm not, but it didn't matter) will especially identify wth LYCPOLIS. The story involves young people playing an online game, set in a medieval city called Lycopolis, that turns scary and unpredictable when some of the characters pledge allegiance to a demon in the online game. The results spill over into their real lives with life and death consequences as the characters made choices between fear and courage, good and evil. An underlying theme is the always provocative question of what price anyone might put on their soul if they could exchange it for wealth or power.

One way the author swept me up into the fascinating intersection of reality and fantasy was by developing the characters with real insight into the lives, emotions, and angst of teenagers in various domestic situations. It was not hard to imagine the various reasons each one felt drawn to the community and acceptance they felt inside the game, since for most of them, it was lacking in their real lives.

This was the author's first published novel. Not once did I find a mis-step, omission, or rough patch in her story. I was gripped from beginning to end, and even came away with a bit more appreciation for the attraction of online gaming. Kudos to Ali Luke for a debut success....more

Whew...this book took me on an exhausting ride, and so did reading the wildly divergent reviews. It's WAY more than just another vampire book...and muWhew...this book took me on an exhausting ride, and so did reading the wildly divergent reviews. It's WAY more than just another vampire book...and much more interesting than a standard post-apocalyptic story. But too long! I won't try to convey the plot, because not only would it be hard to do, it could also spoil the read for someone else. So let me try to divide my review into praise and criticism.

First the praise:

My hat is off to anyone who can create a richly complex story about a whole new world and society and make it believable. By starting in the very near future and moving only to 100 years or so (but after cataclysmic events that have drastically altered society and the way people live), the use of current events and places most readers will find familiar was surreal and disquieting. Sadly, it was only too easy to take the worst of real events (Hurricane Katrina, AIDS epidemics, Branch Davidians in Waco, etc.) and imagine those taken to an extreme... with a vampiric twist. Scary stuff.

The writing is really outstanding in terms of plot complexity, exciting narrative, character development, and language that can be searing or simply touching. In describing a convicted death row inmate: "There were many ways to look condemned...and Carter's look wasn't scared or angry but simply resigned, like the world had been taking slow bites of him his whole life."

In a book where every evening brings heightened danger from "the smokes," a description of waning light and an impending storm is eerily vivid: "The evening light had gone a sallow green. He could see the storm rising above the horizon in his rearview mirror; he knew, from the blowing tips of the ditch grass on either side, that it was following them." And another description of night: "A frigid wind was blowing through the trees, a ghostly moaning. A rind of moon had ascended, bathing the scene in a trembling light, making the shadows lurch and sway around him."

I found the description of a mysterious old crone called "Auntie" (one of the few elders in the book's society who remembers The Time Before) created a very clear picture in my mind: "She was clothed, as always, in a loose, scoop-necked frock of quilted fabrics, bits and pieces harvested from any number of other dresses over the years. What was left of her hair formed a vaporous tangle of white that seemed not so much to grow from her head as float in its vicinity, and her cheeks were sprayed by spots that were neither freckles nor moles but something in between."

I loved a line about a character who had been through so many frightening and violent experiences that he finally was ready to stop running and face whatever was going to happen: "And in that moment Michael realized that the place where he kept his fear was empty. He, Michael...wasn't afraid. What he felt was more like anger--a huge, weary irritation."

I was intrigued by some of the spiritual language and not entirely clear on what all the intended analogies were. One line I liked though, was Theo telling his brother Peter, "But now I look at you...and I know that making sense isn't the point. Nothing about any of this makes sense. What you did, you did on faith."

Now the criticism:

My "liking" of this book went on wild mood swings. It grabbed me right from the beginning, but then seemed to be degenerating into something so dark that by about a third of the way through, I was about to put it down. Then in the middle third, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic America, I was caught up in the survival strategies required by the group of colonists who survived inside a walled conclave and didn't know if there was anyone else other than "the smokes" alive in the world. Without modern conveniences, the society was forced in many ways to become almost Medieval. The last third, when a small group of colonists rides out in search of something to save their faltering community, was filled with action, but terribly draining emotionally. It was also fragmented since the scenes jumped back and forth.

One of the most irritating things about the book was what seemed to be a deliberate attempt to confuse the reader about things (e.g., Did that character really die or not? When that group split up, which characters went with which group? What did she mean by that?) - I felt forced several times to go back and re-read something to try to figure it out, and while the confusion was usually resolved, it left me feeling manipulated.

I actually found the wrap-up more satisfying than it could have been. Even though it is clearly set up for a sequel (and I'm sorry to say that I actually might want to read it and see what happens to the characters later), it didn't leave you completely hanging (Well, except for the missing colonists...).

So was reading this a good use of my time? Probably not -- I don't feel edified or enlightened or ennobled, but I have to admit that I was entertained....more